


Absence of Memory

by Kyarorain



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-04
Updated: 2010-10-04
Packaged: 2017-10-12 10:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyarorain/pseuds/Kyarorain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash has an unfortunate accident involving Misty's mallet with unexpected repercussions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absence of Memory

**Absence of Memory**

x-o-x-o-x

Just a random ficlet in which random things happen. I love randomness.

Game Freak and Nintendo own Pokémon.

x-o-x-o-x

"Come on, Psyduck, what is the matter with you?" Misty yelled, raising her fists above her head. She had accepted a challenge from a Pokémon trainer passing by and Psyduck had decided to take the place of Staryu without permission. "Get a headache already!"

"Looks like your Psyduck isn't much of a battler," the trainer stated. "This should be a piece of cake for my Raticate."

"This isn't looking good," Brock murmured quietly so that only Ash could hear. "It's not like Psyduck can just have a headache when it wants to."

"I think she's about to bust a blood vessel," Ash spoke a little too loudly.

"I heard that!" Misty snapped furiously. "And it's not a blood vessel I'm going to be busting!" Suddenly, she had a mallet in her hands and advancing on Psyduck.

"Misty, wait! You can't just hurt Psyduck!" Ash felt pity for the hapless Pokémon and ran forward in an effort to stop her from beating it. His foot skidded unexpectedly on the gravel and he pitched forward, landing on Psyduck. Unfortunately for him, the mallet had been about to come down on Psyduck's head and Misty was unable to stop herself in time. The mallet impacted with Ash's skull, knocking him unconscious.

Misty stared at Ash's limp form, blinking. "Oops."

"Misty, you have got to control your temper." Brock put a hand against his forehead, looking weary.

The trainer watched on, a large bead of sweat dripping down his head. "Um, you know what? It's okay, I can find someone else to battle." He hurriedly recalled his Raticate and ran off.

"This is all your fault, Psyduck!" Misty shouted at Psyduck, who held its head and looked sad. "You should have just let Staryu battle."

"Pikapi?" Pikachu was concernedly prodding and poking his trainer who had yet to come round.

Ash was moved to a bench and Misty and Brock sat down, waiting for him to wake up. Several minutes passed before the young trainer stirred awake.

"Ooh..." Ash slowly blinked and stared up at the sky.

"Are you okay?" Misty asked. "Sorry about that. I couldn't stop myself in time."

Ash sat up and stared at her for a long time until Misty began to feel uncomfortable.

"What are you staring at me like that for?" Misty exclaimed, flushing red.

"You're not feeling dizzy or anything?" Brock stood up, approaching Ash. "We should make sure you don't have a concussion."

Ash turned his head and stared at Brock, looking confused. "Concussion?"

"Well, yeah. Misty did hit you on the back of the head with a huge mallet, you know," Brock reminded him.

"Misty?" Ash repeated. "Who's Misty?"

Misty jumped off the bench, clenching her fists angrily. "Look, it was an accident alright. I meant to hit Psyduck, not you, so you don't have to act like a jerk and pretend I don't even exist. Hmph!" She crossed her arms and turned away, scowling.

"Uh, Misty, I don't think he was kidding around. Ash, do you know my name?" Brock asked. Ash shook his head. "Oh boy. This isn't good."

"If this is your idea of a joke, then it's not very funny, Ash Ketchum." Misty turned around and put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Is that my name?" Ash asked.

Misty sighed and looked at Brock despairingly. "What are we going to do?" She paused. "Maybe I should hit him with the mallet again. That always works in the movies."

"How about we try to find a non-violent method first?" Brock suggested.

Brock and Misty looked down at Ash, who was now poking and prodding Pikachu curiously. He grasped the electric mouse's tail and pulled a little too hard.

"Piiiiikaaa!" Pikachu promptly released an electric blast that engulfed Ash and caused him to fall back, twitching.

Misty quietly groaned. "Now I've got a headache."

"Let's go to the Pokémon Center now," Brock said. "We'll see what we can do there."

The group made their way to the Pokémon Center and sat in one of the bedrooms, where Misty and Brock pondered the next course of action.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu loudly complained as Ash was now playing with his cheeks.

"I'm going downstairs to see if Nurse Joy's got painkillers," Misty said. "You try talking to him."

"Sure." Brock waited until Misty was gone. "Ash, listen. You are a Pokémon trainer from Pallet Town. Do you remember?"

Ash shook his head. "What is a Pokémon trainer?"

"We'll just stick to the basics. You are travelling with me and Misty on a journey. My name is Brock. That is Pikachu. He was your first Pokémon."

"Pikachu, huh? It's so cute!" Ash hugged Pikachu a little too tightly, provoking another complaint.

"You know, it would be nice if you could turn your attention away from Pikachu for a few minutes. I think Pikachu would appreciate that too," Brock said a little impatiently.

Ash reluctantly set Pikachu down and the electric mouse sighed in relief.

Brock was quiet for a moment. It was going to take quite a while to tell Ash everything about his life and didn't sound terribly exciting for that matter. Maybe he could have a little fun before Misty got back. What harm could it do?

"I should tell you something very important about Misty," said Brock. "She's your girlfriend."

"She is?" Ash said incredulously. "But... she's scary."

"Well, yeah, but she's not so bad when you get to know her." Brock smiled. "So, you know, she's just a bit upset because you've lost your memory, so you should, well, do something a boyfriend would do."

"Like... kissing?" Ash asked hesitantly.

"Sure. By the way, don't tell her I told you, alright?" Brock heard footsteps approaching and stood up as the door opened. "Hey, Misty."

"Making any progress so far?" Misty asked.

"Not really. Why don't you have a go? You've known him longer than I have so you ought to. I'm just going to go downstairs and eat something since I'm hungry." Brock bolted out of the door.

"I've known him longer? It was only about four days." Misty shook her head and sat down on the bed opposite Ash. "Well, where should we start? How about the day we met... which was also when you started your journey."

"Um, Misty..."

"Yeah?"

"I, um... well, I... know you're worried but..." Ash was practically squirming as he tried to get the words out.

"What is it?" Misty asked impatiently. "Are you getting your memory back?" She got off the bed and stood before him, leaning close. "Anything? Spit it out!"

Then something unexpected happened. Ash awkwardly mashed his lips into hers, causing Misty to freeze in shock. Her eyes grew wide in astonishment.

"Did... did you just kiss me?" Misty's heart started pounding. Had Ash's amnesia worn off? Had it, for some bizarre reason, led to him confessing feelings for her? She'd never even realised he had hormones. Her face was uncomfortably hot.

Ash was continuing to stare at her. Misty figured she should probably do or say something. She had imagined having a moment like this a few times, but never had the nerve to speak up. Now that Ash had taken the initiative, she probably had to.

"Wow, Ash. I never realised you had feelings for me. Actually, I like you too-"

"How could you have never realised? Aren't you my girlfriend?"

Misty's jaw dropped. "Girlfriend? What? Why would you think..." She stopped, her eyes narrowing to slits. An aura of fire formed around her. "BROCK," she hissed in a voice that caused Ash to quiver in fear. "I. Am. Going. To. Murder. Him." The furious redhead turned and walked out of the room.

Brock was in the cafeteria, wolfing down a sandwich, when Misty stormed in. He gulped, preparing to face the consequences of his practical joke and praying she didn't kill him.

"What is the matter with you?" Misty shouted, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and leaning in. "You should know better than to play with a girl's feelings! Do you realise how embarrassing it was?"

"Speaking of embarrassing... we're in a public place," Brock pointed out.

Misty looked around at the shocked people then growled and pulled Brock out of the chair. She marched him out of the cafeteria and pushed him against the wall. "I suppose you thought that was terribly funny? This isn't a joke! Ash has lost his memory and you're playing stupid games?"

"It was just a little bit of fun," Brock protested. "It wasn't hurting anyone. If it really upset you that much then I'm sorry."

Misty let go and stepped back, sighing in frustration. "What if Ash never gets his memory back? Mrs Ketchum will kill us."

"Us? You're the one who clonked him with a mallet."

"Let's just get back to the room," Misty said.

Upon returning to the bedroom, Brock and Misty found no sign of Ash or Pikachu, which was a very bad sign.

Ash had grown bored of sitting in the room, in just under a minute in fact, and his short attention span had taken him all the way out of the Pokémon Center. Pikachu was following along as they walked down the street.

"I wonder where Brock and Misty went. Is there anything fun to do around here?" Ash looked around. "Pikachu, what should we do?"

"Chu..." Pikachu wasn't even sure it was a good idea for Ash to be wandering around. He seemed to be even more clueless than usual.

Suddenly, Team Rocket popped out in front of Ash. Seeing him alone, they had decided to try attacking him head on and hoped their butts wouldn't get kicked in the process while they attempted to steal Pikachu.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie ordered.

"And make it double!" James chimed in.

"Huh? Who are you guys?" Ash tilted his head, looking at them curiously.

Jessie had been about to launch into the next part of her motto but stopped, staring incredulously. "Are you kidding me?"

"He doesn't look like he's kidding," said James. "You think something affected his memory?"

"Hmm." Meowth rubbed his chin, smirking. "This gives me an idea."

Jessie and James exchanged devious glances and grinned in unison.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ash asked as Meowth suddenly lunged at Pikachu, who had been standing in front of him. The cat Pokémon soon had Pikachu inside a glass container.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out frantically, beating on the glass.

"Oh, thank you so much for finding our precious little Pikachu!" Jessie shook Ash's hands roughly, fake tears running down her cheeks. "We've been searching for it for months and we've missed it sooooo much."

"We're very grateful to you." James smiled. "Pikachu's always running away from us. See, it doesn't even want to come back home, but that's where it belongs, you see?"

"Wait." Ash frowned. "Didn't Brock say it was my first Pokémon?"

"Brock? That guy's always telling lies. You shouldn't believe anything he says," Meowth said. "Well, we're off back home with our Pikachu, so, bye."

Team Rocket turned around and was about to hurry off down the street when they heard a shout.

"Team Rocket!"

The trio froze and turned around to see Brock and Misty come running up.

"Oops," said James.

"Busted," Jessie added.

"Ash, why are you just standing there? Team Rocket's stealing Pikachu!" Misty cried out incredulously.

"Huh?" Ash's jaw dropped.

"You've got some nerve taking advantage of his amnesia!" Brock shouted at the trio. "We won't let you get away with this. Go, Onix!"

"Come on out, Staryu!" Misty threw Staryu's Poké Ball. This time, it wasn't interrupted by Psyduck.

"Onix, use Wrap!" Brock ordered.

The trio cried out as the giant rock snake wrapped itself around them and its grip tightened. Meowth ended up dropping the glass container and Misty lunged forward to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Are you alright, Pikachu?" Misty freed the electric Pokémon.

"Pika!" Pikachu dropped to the ground, giving Team Rocket a fierce look.

Brock took out Onix's Poké Ball and recalled it. "Ash, tell Pikachu to use Thunderbolt."

"Right. Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Staryu, Water Gun!"

Team Rocket screamed as they were sent flying into the air and electrocuted at the same time. A small explosion occured and they went sailing off far into the sky.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"Well, that's those clowns dealt with." Misty recalled Staryu. "Now that's over, we can deal with the more pressing matters."

"And the sooner the better." Brock rubbed his forehead.

Ash knelt down before Pikachu. "Hey, sorry about that. Those guys made me really confused and I didn't know what was going on."

"Pika, pika." Pikachu shook its head, smiling.

At that moment, a woman leaned out of a window far above them with a tub of water. She was about to yell a warning for them to get out of the way but the tub slipped from her hands.

"Look out!"

Pikachu hurriedly leaped out of the way but Ash wasn't so fast. The tub connected sharply with the back of his head and he crashed to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh dear." Brock facepalmed.

"Ash is really unlucky today." Misty sighed.

The unconscious boy was propped up against a wall while his friends waited for him to awaken. Eventually, Ash's eyes fluttered open.

"Ash? You okay?" Brock inquired.

"Huh?" Ash looked around wildly. "Where are we? What happened to that trainer Misty was battling?"

Misty and Brock exchanged shocked glances. Ash was certainly full of surprises today.

"Um, Ash, that was quite a while ago," Misty said slowly. "Do you not remember what happened after you got hit?"

"Did I get hit with your mallet? You really need to watch where you swing that thing." Ash frowned at her.

"I take it he doesn't remember," Brock said.

"Thank god for that," Misty said huffily. "I still haven't forgiven you for that prank you pulled."

"What prank?" Ash asked.

"You know what? I never finished eating and I'm sure you must be quite peckish so let's go and eat at the Pokémon Center. I've got to see Nurse Joy again!" Brock yanked Ash to his feet and pulled him away before Misty could answer the question. Pikachu hurried after them.

"What a wuss," Misty muttered. It didn't really matter to her anyway. She hardly wanted to risk jogging Ash's memory about the event in case it still existed somewhere. The redhead set off after them.


End file.
